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Perhaps the last Real Madrid great game, complete from beginning to end, was the Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich in April 2014. Even though after that game Madrid won its 10th Champions League, the Fifa Club World Cup and had a 22-game win streak, Real Madrid was gradually showing flaws that seem to have become more obvious during the past three weeks.
During the period from the Bayern game to now, the management, led by Florentino Perez, has committed a series of mistakes that may well lead to another trophyless season for los Blancos.
5 Decisions That Sunk Real Madrid
1. Absence of philosophy for signings
It seems that Real Madrid'a requirements to acquire a player are that the player is a star, or comes from a country the team is interested in selling more jerseys in.
For that reason, some of Madrid's players do not complement each other, because they do the same things. This leaves Real vulnerable at other positions. Sometimes Real leave a player on the bench who would be a better fit for the squad, but does not have a bigger name, like Casemiro on Saturday.
What do you need Danilo for if you already have Dany Carvajal at right back?
Why not buy a center back instead, to accompany the injury-prone Sergio Ramos or alternate with Pepe and Varane?
How can Kroos, Modric, and James Rodriguez play at the same time? They are excellent players individually, but together they get in each others' way.
Not to mention the trouble of having Benzema, Bale and Cristiano as forwards. The attack is based on an increasingly disconnected Cristiano Ronaldo. Gareth Bale has been fading as the season has gone by and Karim Benzema, who besides being injured a lot recently and going downhill in his form, now has problems with the law.
What roles are Mateo Kovacic and Lucas Vázquez supposed to play in the current squad?
2. Insane decisions
When the team looked more united behind the figure of Carlo Ancelotti, he was fired, people saying he always used the same players and that they suffered a lot of injuries.
To make matters worse, his replacement was Rafa Benitez, who won the Champions League with Liverpool against Ancelotti's AC Milan. Perhaps Benitez greatest merit is to use a starting XI that pleases Florentino Perez.
The Spanish coach and Gareth Bale appear to be two lonely people in the locker room of Real Madrid.
As if that were not enough, Karim Benzema is signed through 2019. Can anyone imagine Benzema playing in any starting XI in four years in any big European league?
3. They like to be ridiculous
How in the office of a team of that level can cases like the Keylor Navas-David de Gea soap opera occur?
How can it be that for El Clasico the Real Madrid coach changes two players in the starting lineup just half an hour before kick off?
4. Too much depends on Cristiano Ronaldo
In the past you could say that Real Madrid played as well as Cristiano Ronaldo did. However, it has long been felt among Real Madrid fans that CR7 is unable to lift or inspire the team, or start a comeback.
The team and the Portuguese are so far apart that nobody, from Real Madrid teammates to executives, was at the premiere of his new movie.
5. Lack of physical conditioning
Everyone who watches El Clasico could see that Toni Kroos was very tired even though they had played just 35 minutes.
Each week there is a Real Madrid player ruled out for three or four weeks because of physical problems. Bale, James, Ramos, Modric and Benzema have given more than enough work to doctors and their lack of conditioning seems to reveal that there are flaws Madrid's physical preparation. Either that ot it's just bad luck.
Supposedly, hiring Benitez was to improve the defensive and physical condition of the club.
Which way is Real Madrid going?
It is impossible to know which way Real Madrid will go in the coming months. As Connor Fleming said in his article in The18.com on the choice between Cristiano and Bale, Real Madrid does not rebuild. They reload.
Players, dealers and buyers abound, but the fans of Los Blancos are getting tired and soon El Clasico could become so unequal in favor of Barcelona that nobody in their right mind would pay up to 10,000 Euros for a ticket, as occurred in the re-sale market around the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday
